Perfection Like a Shattered Glass
by Estheim
Summary: He was perfect, to a point that no one could ever touch.


**Perfection Like a Shattered Glass**   
by Josie

He was perfect. There was no person alive, no being alive, who could even come close to his greatness. They all strove to, of course, but he knew that they would never - indeed, could never - attain their goal. He was better than them all, and their struggling attempts to deny that amused him, in a way. The fact that they couldn't tell that they would never measure up was just another testament to how imperfect they all were. 

No one could touch him. No one was faster, stronger, or smarter than him. He had the world at his feet, and he could do whatever he pleased with it, and that he did. It was his toy, in a way, his escape from the idiocy of the people who wished that they could be just like him. He couldn't stand their constant noise, their constant speaking, as though they were _good enough_ to actually speak to him. Who did they think they were? 

Those chosen children were the worst of them. They constantly came in and tried to ruin all of his work, all of his plans. For reasons unknown to him, he couldn't even get rid of those annoyances, and it perplexed him to no end. They should not have been able to even _get_ to this world, his world, but they did. It annoyed him. 

Though, perhaps not quite so much as that voice that kept screaming out within him. He wanted to shut it up. 

_"I won't become him, I promise. I won't be like Milleniumon."_

Violet eyes narrowed slightly, and he growled. "You again? Shut up. I don't want to hear you anymore." 

_"Ryo-san, I promise, I won't be like that ..."_

"Was there something you didn't understand! Insignificant, stupid little ..." He closed his eyes, a small attempt to calm himself. He didn't have to lose his cool to this, he would not lose his cool to this. He had other things to worry about, things that were much more important than the voice of a child screaming out from inside his mind. Things like how those infernal chosen children were coming for him again. He could feel it, he didn't even need his surveillance to tell him about it. He knew they were there, trying to ruin _his_ world, and he couldn't stand it. He turned down a hallway, considering carefully. _Perhaps I should send out a welcoming committee for them. I'm sure they would just **love** that._ He nodded to himself, liking that idea. As he brought his control panel out to the air before him, he couldn't help but admire his own genius once again. People could claim that narcissism was overrated as much as they wanted to, but, at the end of the day, he was sure that the reason they said that was because none of them had anything worth lusting after. 

Just before he actually made his selection, however, he noticed something. A formation not far from his current position that seemed like it just might be useful. Without hesitation, he completely forgot about the chosen children and focused his attentions on bringing his base towards that. Something inside of him told him that this formation would be able to give him the final piece to finish his latest creation. Somewhere, he vaguely recognized a small voice that could have been Wormmon's telling him to stay away from this whirlpool, that it was the source of the darkness and that, although he couldn't feel it because he was only human, any digimon could feel it, and knew that going towards it meant certain doom. He narrowed his eyes at that. 

"Only human?" Without care or thought, his whip lashed out at the small insect digimon, who cowered where he fell from the hit. "Never say that again. You're lucky that I even allow you to remain here with me at all. You're worthless, not at all becoming of me." He pulled up a screen, looking at both the image and progression meter on it. "This ... this is a much more becoming pet for one such as me. When he is completed, he will be the closest to me in perfection. Almost there ... but not quite." 

Before the insect could respond, he had already turned away and started off to prepare for the reception of this evil digimon who would help him complete his perfect pet. Even as he drew closer to the whirlpool that Wormmon had called the source of the darkness, he heard a mysterious voice telling him that he should stay away from the whirlpool, that he would not be able to handle the evil that he would find there. Ignoring it, he continued forward. Somewhere, his mind registered that intruders had made it into his fortress, but he couldn't be bothered with that. What harm could they really do, if he was now going to be able to complete his creation? 

Even as he faced off against the Devimon that appeared within that whirlpool, he didn't bother to think of any of the consequences that his actions might cause. Adding the data into his creation, he mentally patted himself on the back for another perfect display of his genius. His perfect pet ... his Chimeramon. 

Behind him, footsteps were pounding on the floor of his fortress ... one pair of footsteps, followed by the soft flapping of wings. His eyes narrowed. 

"Ichijouji-san." His spine stiffened as he turned around. **No one** called him by that name and got away with it. "Don't you think it's about time you stopped playing around now? People are getting hurt." Something about that voice, the cold detachment of the words that were spoken, freaked him out a bit. Of all people to freak out ... him ... the most perfect person there was. It was unheard of. He didn't even hear the words the boy spoke. 

"Insect ..." Before he realized what he was doing, he had already lashed his whip at the other boy, hitting him on the cheek. The blonde did not flinch, but merely brought his hand to his cheek for a moment, then looked at the hand in an almost clinical, detached way. 

"You use force without thought. You think that, just because you can hit as hard as you'd like, you can always win. Well ... then ..." His eyes closed for a moment, and he looked all together pleasant. Then, without warning, his eyes shot open again, and a cold, harsh glare was fixated on the perfect boy. The blonde was pissed. "Now it's my turn." He lunged forward and delivered a punch to the blue-haired boy, sending his whip flying as the perfect Kaiser was thrown to the ground. 

He struggled against the blonde, but he ended up on the bottom the majority of their fight. How could such an insignificant person take him down? How could such an insignificant person even _hit_ him _once_? He could not, would not, stand for it. But there was little he could do ... until Chimeramon, in his patrolling, blasted a hole through the wall of his fortress. Feeling proud, almost like a peacock, he boasted to the confused blonde about his perfect creation. Before he knew what had happened, the blonde was gone, off to take Chimeramon on, no doubt. 

He couldn't bring himself to really be worried about that, though. somewhere inside of him, he felt as though something was just too wrong. He didn't even feel like he knew what was up and what was down anymore. This boy had managed to hit him. 

This nameless nobody had taken him down so easily. 

He had to know who this was. He had to know his name, his family, where he was born ... all of it. He needed to. He could not accept this. 

Sitting up, he stared blankly at the space before him, and whispered almost unsurely, "Insect ..." 

But, oh, how the mighty and perfect fall. Even as he struggled to keep his cool, to remind himself that he was the only one who was and ever would be perfect ... he felt it slipping slowly away. He felt it falling to the ground and shattering into a million pieces, like a glass window, so transparent that he had never even noticed it there. It was in his way, blocking him the entire time, and he had never even noticed. 

Even as he realized that he was through ... his arrogance returned to him. Somewhere inside of him, something snapped. 

Even as he stood and reassumed what he had called his rightful role ... 

His perfection had shattered beyond repair. 

He was no more perfect or special than anyone else. To his great horror ... 

He was normal. And he could and would be defeated. 

- - -

**Disclaimer**: Digimon Adventure 02 belongs to Toei Animation, it's dubbing rights to Disney, and the merchandising rights to Bandai.   
**Author's Note**: This story is a little gift I'm putting together for a great friend. Cynthia, happy birthday. You are officially the age corresponding to my lucky number now. Hope your day is a good day, and I hope you enjoy this gift. I'm taking a few liberties with the actual goings on of the story. Call it creative license, if you will. I'll just go with, "I haven't seen this episode in a couple of years." Anyway, I've got the general gist of it, so I guess I'll have to make do with that. Besides, we didn't get to follow this character around constantly at this point of the season. 


End file.
